Category: lemon

Even the best of health magazines and forums cannot rob Skeeter of her love for fresh, natural juices. Most health experts tell you to eat the whole fruit than squeezing out the juice. They have their reasons (fiber loss and so on) but Skeeter prefers to turn deaf. A hygienic juice bar round the corner? Count Skeets in! In the bits of Western and Southern India that Skeeter has visited, juices are fresh and aplenty, colas are less prevalent and seasonal fruits are a celebrity in their own right. And Skeeter’s take is that as long as it is not canned and tetra-packed and so on, is freshly squeezed and tastes good, well, go for it!

Cold pressed juices are a hit with overseas cousins going ga-ga over them. When Just Pressed offered Skeeter a sampler of Cold Pressed Craft juices that they bottle after juicing them in a Norwalk juicer, Skeeter agreed. Now Skeeter’s not used to fasting but the thought of giving her system a break with juices was tempting.

The cleanse

Skeeter started her day with warm honey, lemon water followed by SOAK. A green coloured juice, not very great to look at, it had the goodness of Pineapple, Celery, Cucumber, Spinach, Collard, Kale, Lemon, Ginger and Wheatgrass. Skeeter sipped it cautiously and found that the pineapple, cucumber, lemon and ginger gave it a kick and saved the day. For someone, who’s used to starting her day with milky tea this was quite a departure. The no-solids food plan needs a solid will power. Several times during the day, Skeeter would almost reach out for something or the other only to be reminded that she is off solids.

ACTIVE was similar minus Pineapple and Wheatgrass with the added freshness of Lettuce, Parsley and Cilantro. Both filled Skeeter up and put her off food too! Too much of green, healthy stuff does that to you Skeeter guesses.

PUMP, Skeeter’s favourite of all the juices, was made up of Coconut Water, Pineapple, Apple, Aloevera, Orange, Mint and Lemongrass. A very refreshing one this. Lifted Skeeter’s mood and spirited and gave her the energy to keep going with the cleanse.

JOLT was next. The kind of juice you’d have at a health bar. Carrot, Apple, Celery, Cucumber, Beetroot, Lemon and Spirulina were there in this bottle. If you are a health freak, this one will leave you happy and satiated.

BOUNCE made for a pre-dinner snack. It had Carrot, Orange, Apple, Pineapple, Lemon, Turmeric and Chia Seed. Bounce was good and had the sharpness of the fresh turmeric root. Something Skeeter is used to having all through winter.

By now Skeeter was used to a fasting body and mind. She could have really skipped CHARGE but then there were heaps of praises all over social networking sites and blogs for charge which is made up of Coconut Meat, Almond, Vanilla, Honey, Cashew, Cinnamon and Chia Seeds. It was filling and akin to a gluten free milk-shake spiked with cinnamon. A complete meal.

VERDICT: A very doable and delicious cleanse. The next day, Skeeter felt light and nice AND motivated enough to take this cleanse up once every now and then!

P.S.:The thing to be noted is that these bottles come with an expiry date (3-days) as they have no additives whatsoever, so do drink up maximum by the second day of receving your cleanse set. And Just Pressed can do custom juices as per your preference as well. All the best!

The only downpoint is the hefty pricing( which Skeeter guesses many may frown at): Rs 1600 for a one-day cleanse. But hey, you pay that kinda money (or more) for one meal at a restaurant eating unhealthy carb-laden food. Why not spend one such amount on your health?

The delayed onset of Delhi winters had Skeety huffing and puffing, till she got a call from a friend who wanted Skeety to take a few friends on an Old Delhi trip. Skeets only likes going to Old Delhi alone, so this was a first of its kind trip. It brought much needed cheer and we were soon walking past Red Fort and entering Old Delhi. Though Skeeter did not have much time to plan this one, but she tried to make the visitors take back with them some happy Delhi food memories.At the first halt, we had bedmi puri and a spicy aloo sabzi with a tangy, crunchy instant carrot pickle, kachoris at the mouth of Kinari Bazaar. Old marwari delicacies, these. No onions and garlic are used in the preparation of food in marwari/Jain households and yet it is so appealing to the taste buds. We proceeded to have kesar pista milk (we Delhiites call it bottle wala doodh), which is boiled with nuts and saffron and then chilled and poured into the classic old (recycled) bottles. Moving on, we had some fabled “banta” or lemon soda from the very famous Ved Prakash lemon wale. The bottle here again is iconic. Skeets read a story about the banta bottle here and would love to share it with the readers and especially Anita (the mastermind of the trip), Nandini & Ajit, Manisha who were with Skeeter on the trip.

At the onset of winter, most residents of North India begin stocking on their favourite revris and gajjak. These are sesame seed and jaggery brittle preparations (some call them nut bars/energy bars) in various shapes, sizes and flavours that keep you going when the winters unleash their cruelty. They are healthy when had in small quantities per day and well, keep you warm and going. We get ones with peanut too! Some have rose petals thrown in and others have pistachio or cardamom and other spices. You get to choose your flavour but all of them have a distinct taste that keeps your craving another bite. Inside Kinari bazaar, there are two shops that stock gajjak from Meerut. We stopped and bought our share before proceeding to the famous paranthe wali gali. We met Khemchand, the Daulat ki Chat guy on our way and everyone loved it. Manisha who had “seen” it on on of her earlier visits, got to taste it as well! You can read more about it here

Ajit really was in the mood to sample some paranthas and none of the party wanted them, but we stood by him, and helped him polish off his paranthas. He got a little shock when the parantha people told him he cannot order a single parantha. He had to order minimum of two! He observed many a things there, one them being that they “actually use shuddh ghee” in Old Delhi. He was amazed to see large cannisters of shuddh ghee or clarified butter being poured out for use. Here’s some more of his observation in his words, “Lot of the base items (paranthe, bedmi puri etc) by themselves were mild (little seasoning). But when you have them with the accompaniments, they’re heavenly.” He observed this as he got spicy aloo sabji and instant carrot pickle with bedmis. Also, with his deep fried, artery clogging paranthas, he got Aloo matar sabji, pumpkin or kaddu sabji, meethi chutney with slices of banana, khatti chutney, some more instant carrot pickle! His Sunday was definitely made!

It was our turn now, as Ajit wiped his hands and we went across the road for Natraj Dahi bhalle and some HOT aloo tikkis. Skeeter feels the Natraj Dahi bhalle have lost their old glamour, taste and quality, nevertheless they were soft and appetizing. The HOT aloo tikkis made Skeeter’s Sunday.

So while our stomachs were begging for mercy (no more food please), we went to Ballimaran to see the celebrated poet, Ghalib’s haveli. On our way we stopped for some shakarkandi chaat (sweet potatoes tossed with a tangy masala and some lemon). What is a visit to Old Delhi in winters without sampling some of it. Nandini hit childhoood nostalgia on having it and told us how it was a common breakfast treat for her as a child and how we take such delicacies for granted and later, grow up to blog about them. Eh Nandini?! 🙂 On our way back we tried some Tiwari ke laddoo, some kulfi falooda and even packed some assorted savouries and Daulat ki Chaat for unaccompanying family members.

Skeety put this baby in a newly acquired loaf tin and then the oven…it started to rise in a few minutes and rose even more and MORE. She was scared it would explode right there in front of her eyes. But it didn’t. Turned out nice and lemony. A little crunchy on the top. But, heck it was cake! Devoured to the last crumb. The lovely eggless lemon pound cake with a drizzle of cane sugar and some more lemon.